Option Care seeks to set standard

BANNOCKBURN, Ill. – Option Care Health has an obligation to increase the exchange of health care data across the health care system, says Brett Michalak, CIO. 

In January, Option Care Health and WellSky announced plans to launch CommonWell Health Alliance services in all 50 states in the second quarter of 2022 to help improve access to health data.  

“We’re going to be looking at how we try to set the standard around how we can provide that interoperability with the referral partners, and then the rest of the infusion industry, hopefully, will be able to adopt and leverage that for the entire industry,” Michalak said. “From a leadership position, Option Care Health is going to invest our time and effort into furthering and advancing interoperability in the industry.” 

Option Care will join CommonWell through WellSky I/O, accessible within WellSky’s electronic health record. 

“When providers and technology vendors are committed to doing what’s right, which is sharing information about patients and making a commitment to do things beyond our ecosystem and doing what’s best for the patients, we can improve outcomes and have a better patient experience,” said Amy Shellhart, chief solutions officer for WellSky. “We can share that information with other providers to make sure that the patient is successful.” 

While Option Care has worked on several interoperability initiatives at the local level, partnering with WellSky and CommonWell, a nonprofit trade association dedicated to creating universal access to health data via a nationwide network, allows it to broaden that nationally, says Michalak. 

“Being able to further this on a national scale and leverage the experience and capabilities of the organizations that are involved in CommonWell allows us to make an impact in a rapid timeframe that is important to us,” he said. “We’ve learned through experience that the challenges and difficulties around standards and consistency require a much broader approach.” 

The end goal of setting consistent standards for all providers, Michalak says, is not only improved patient care, but also better positioning with payers.   

“Whether it’s associated with any reimbursement structure, I think it’s important to understand the value that our clinicians provide to the patients in any setting and how we can benefit overall outcomes for the patients with high-quality clinical services at an effective cost in the right setting,” he said. “It’s an objective data set around the quality and care of the services we provide.”